The Final Choices Are Always The Right Ones
by Kathryn Hart
Summary: There was a reason why Stephen entered into the room that spelled his death. He always was a hero, right up to the very end. This is a Tribute to Stephen Hart


**Stephen had a reason for entering that room which spelled his death. He was always a hero, right up 'til the very end. Believe me, I bawled my eyes out when I watched Stephen die. He has always been my favorite character. I always wished that he could come back, and when Helen said she would, I became hopeful. But when it became apparent that he was not coming back, my tormented mind had to release this. This is why Stephen never came back. I miss you Stephen :( I own nothing of Primeval, because if I had, Stephen would come back, along with Nick and Claudia, who would fall in love again, get married, and have six kids :) but sadly, I don't, so here you go:**

_The Final Choices Are Always the Right Ones_

_A Tribute to Stephen Hart's Last Moments_

_January 2nd 2010_

_by Kathryn Hart, your biggest fan _:)

As Stephen grabbed the harpoon gun out of the back of the truck he tried not to think about the past few weeks. He scanned for the Silurian Scorpion on the beach. His mind was in a thick fog. _Have I made the right choices?_ He was glad that he had to catch this monster, to keep his mind off other things, like the way Helen's clothes were way too revealing, or how seductive she was to him.

He remembered a time when he used to respect and appreciate modest women, but Helen had changed his whole being, like she had turned him into a corpse on the inside. He also hated how manipulative she was to him. _Why do I always believe her?_ _Why do_ _I follow after her like a dog to it's master?_ The thought sickened him. He wanted every reason to leave her and return to Cutter, but he felt doing so would make him a traitor again. He also knew his best friend would never accept him back, never trust him again. No, he had made his choice, and secretly he hoped he would be killed by this creature hiding in the sand, so he could escape the guilt eating at him.

-*-*-*-

But it was not to be, he couldn't escape that easily. Stopping the creature had given him an odd sense of was all done. The creature was caught, and Stephen was still alive. He stood on the shore gazing out into the ocean, searching the deeps for an answer to calm his tormented mind. He was startled by his cell ringing. _Must be Lester._ he thought. He looked at the ID: unknown. That only meant one person: Helen. By all means he should ignore her, but by habit he picked it up anyway.

"Where have you been?" Her lie about meeting a journalist had made him suspicious.

"Stephen, there isn't much time, Lester's kidnapped me. I got away but I need you to come get me." Stephen had always suspected that Lester was the bad guy, but this didn't add up just right.

"Kidnapped?" Helen heard disbelief in his voice, so she tried to wound him in his heart through another lie.

"Nick and the others are dead." Stephen sank to his knees, crushed, knowing in his heart that it must be true, even if she had been lying to him before. He believed they were dead because he knew something like this was going to happen, his life had already hit rock bottom, and this was just the final blow. He remembered the dream he had the night before that consisted of screams, of monsters, of suffering. He dreamt of pain and death, but he didn't know whose. Now it all made sense. His dream had been some sort of premonition, and he didn't acknowledge it. It was his fault that his friends were dead.

He remembered Cutter, his Professor and best friend.

He lovingly remembered Abby, her light blond hair blowing gently along the sides of her face. She used to care for him once, a long time ago.

He remembered Connor, who was like a younger brother to him.

He thought about Jenny, with her extraordinary fashion and professional-like ways, had always seemed to put Cutter on edge no matter what she did.

He barely heard Helen whisper to him about Lester having them killed. He removed the phone from his head, sobs threatening to overtake him. He put the phone back to his head when he heard Helen's voice tell him to get rid of his cell phone so no one could trace it. He could care less who traced him, he could care less if Lester found him and killed him too. Heck, he could care less if the whole world was destroyed. He could care for nothing now. His heart and soul had just died, and there was no resurrection.

On the other end of the line, Helen smiled evilly. She took much pleasure from killing him on the inside to accomplish her diabolical plan.

Stephen stood up and pitched the phone as hard as he could and yelled, both out of anger, sorrow, and hopelessness. He ran back to the truck, looking for an escape, a place to hide.

The thought of suicide never crossed his mind, he was a man, not one to run away from his troubles. He knew he could never feel anything again, he had made too many wrong choices, suffered from too much. It all started when Helen had returned. She had destroyed Cutter's trust in him. She somehow got him to believe everything she said, maybe because she told him Lester was behind it all, which he believed already. Because she had one piece that matched his piece in the puzzle, he accepted all her other pieces too. Now he wished he hadn't even met Helen. Even if Lester did have Cutter and the others killed, he would've been there, he could've saved them, as one of the team, not rejected and an outsider.

He thought about staying in the truck forever, when he remembered Helen had asked him to pick her up. Maybe she had more details, and if not, he would confront her on it and if she was responsible, make her pay. Yes, that's what he would do. He started up the engine and drove off to find the address Helen had given him.

-*-*-*-

Stephen rammed the door open, and Helen rushed over and hugged him. He still felt empty. She tried to get him to leave with her now, instead of making Lester pay for what he had done to his friends. He thought that was suspicious enough, but he wasn't going to leave until Lester was dead.

They walked through the hallways, Helen intent on leaving, and Stephen intent on ending Lester's life. He stopped when he saw someone sitting on a stairway. He looked closer and saw it was Cutter. He blinked twice to make the illusion disappear, but it didn't.

"You said he was dead."

Nick just looked at him, disgusted. He accused Stephen of being part of the conspiracy, because he was on Helen's side. When Stephen denied it, Cutter said Helen was responsible for the creatures being here, and the countless deaths of innocent people soon to come. Stephen's mind instantly cleared. Helen had lied to him the entire time. Everything was a lie. She tried one more time to make him believe her, but he knew the truth.

"I so badly wanted to believe in you."

But he was still mad at Cutter for the wrongs he had committed. But Cutter didn't care what he thought of him, there were creatures in the building trying to kill them all. Then Helen had the idea of ringing the siren to draw all the creatures into one room, so all three of them set off to make it possible.

-*-*-*-

When Nick made the startling discovery that the door wouldn't shut to contain the creatures, he volunteered to go and shut it from the inside. Suddenly, it became clear what Stephen had to do.

He had no life to live, nothing to go back for. He had to die. Cutter could still make amends, still find love, and still have meaningful friendships, but Stephen was now denied all of that. He smiled, knowing this was the way to redeem himself. As Nick walked for the door, Stephen turned around and punched him, knocking him to the ground. By the time Nick could stand up again, Stephen had shut the door, trapping him inside. He was surprised that Nick had stayed in front of the door and demanded that he open it. He thought Nick had rejected him entirely, but now he knew that Cutter had still considered him a friend. It made him feel good, but not good enough to open the door again.

The last words out of Stephen's mouth were

"Tell Abby and Connor to stay out of trouble."

For the first time since he joined with Helen, he felt good about the choice he had made. He was completely content, even though he was scared beyond belief. He thought over his life and his accomplishments, realizing he had actually done some memorable and heroic things with his life, and that he was not dying in vain. He smiled weakly at Cutter, knowing this was the easiest choice he had ever had to make. He felt the breath of the creatures all around waiting to kill him. He could hear their bloodthirsty growls and snarls. He looked up, suddenly wishing that he could take it all back, that he could have another chance at life. But it was too late. The last thing he saw was Cutter's ice blue eyes registering grief and horror as he watched him die.

-*-*-*-

He watched from above as Abby placed a flower on his grave. He wept, feeling the grief that all his friends felt. He saw them rush off from the funeral, most likely on another anomaly chase. _Man, I wish I could join them, just one last time_. After everyone had left the cemetery, he saw Helen arrive and place an ammonite on his grave.

"Be patient Stephen, things can change, more than you ever know." He saw her evil smile and he suddenly wished with all his might that he would never see Helen again, that things would never change. After all, it was his final choice, and it had been the right one.

"Not on your life, Helen."

**You'll always be a hero in my book, Stephen. You will never be forgotten.**

**_R.I.P Stephen Hart_  
**


End file.
